Living Up to the Title

In what is being self-described
as the Ritz Carlton of naturist resorts, comes Florida’s Caliente
Resort and Spa. The Yahoo
News article says now you too
can spend $300 USD per night and cavort in the pool with no clothes on.
Your money also gets you access to the 120-acre nudist facility,
located freeway close to attractions like Disney and Busch Gardens.

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Technology
Review is reporting on a story
in which carbon nanotube membranes are being used to desalinate water.
The commercial use of this technology is still five to ten years away
(aren’t they always? – ed.) but is being touted as possibly reducing
the cost of desalinization by as much of 75 percent (no word on what
that cost is).

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The folks over at InfoWorld
have a short article on what
people hate about some commercial websites. The
article lists, among other things, Flash animations, invasive
advertising, and difficulty in navigation. The article points
to the fact that people can and will switch to sites that meet their
needs and don’t treat them like sheep to be herded to the slaughter. In
other words, all else being equal, those that treat their customers
with respect, prosper more than those that don’t.

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On a more serious note. No, I’m
not going to say much about the US Supreme Court’s allowing police to enter
people’s homes without first knocking
and identifying themselves. Yes, this will result in the police
breaking down doors while you are sleeping without any notice. Yes,
this moves the balance point away from the people’s right to be secure
in their homes to centralized police powers. Yes, the 5-4 vote shows
the effect of adding conservative judges who feel it is a
GoodThing to give more power to the
police so that everyone can have a little bit more safety (or, at
least, feel they are more safe, even as safety
is not positively
affected by this change).

But the bottom line is, if the
people don’t want this, they can petition Congress to change the laws.
But whatever they do, they shouldn’t blame the court, as I am not,
because the court is just doing what it was intended to do by
the politicians who nominated and confirmed the justices who handed
down this decision.